IN MEMORIAM
ROSELYN J. EISENBERG, PhD
JOHN GEARHART, PhD
Roselyn J. Eisenberg, PhD, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, passed away weeks from her 80th birthday. Eisenberg earned her PhD before the University of Pennsylvania and her AB from Bryn Mawr College. She completed her post-doctorate at Princeton University before being hired by the University of Pennsylvania as a microbiologist, and later served on the faculty at the School of Veterinary Medicine. She earned a worldwide reputation for her groundbreaking virology research on herpes simplex virus, in the lab she led for decades with Dr. Gary H. Cohen. She was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association of the Advancement of Science. She served on the editorial board of the Journal of Virology and authored over 260 articles. As a woman in science, who also chose to have children, she overcame significant hurdles early in her career. She was presented with an award by Penn’s Women’s Center for serving as a role model, based particularly on the gender-discrimination claim she brought and won early in the days of Title VII. She retired from academe in 2017, after the death of her husband of 56 years, William V. Eisenberg. She is survived by her two children, Jeff Eisenberg and Ruth Anne Robbins.
John D. Gearhart, 77, James W. Effron University Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and former director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM), died May 27.
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Gearhart earned his BS in 1964 from the Pennsylvania State University and his MS in 1966 from University of New Hampshire. He earned his PhD in genetics and development from Cornell University in 1970. He became an Associate Professor of Anatomy at the University of Maryland before moving to Johns Hopkins University, where he taught from 1980 to 2008. His research focused on the role of genes in regulating the formation of human tissues and embryos, especially in causing mental retardation. In 2008, Gearhart was appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) University Professor. He became the James W. Effron University Professor and Director of the IRM. His appointment was jointly shared between PSOM and the School of Veterinary Medicine. From 2009 to 2015, he also served as a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at PSOM. He was instrumental in founding the International Society for Stem Cell Research.